Calgary Flames head coach Bob Hartley, centre, argues as players watch the replay of a goal that was waved off because officials ruled that Mark Giordano had knocked down the incoming pass with a high stick before putting it in.

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Bob Hartley, all along, has maintained his innocence.

That he was simply trying to reward his grinders for their hard work.

That putting Brian McGrattan, Kevin Westgarth and Blair Jones out for the first shift Saturday in Vancouver was nothing more than a back-pat.

The gesture, however well-meaning the Calgary Flames coach claimed it to be, ended up being quite expensive.

Monday, the National Hockey League fined Hartley $25,000 for his lineup choices, which had played a large part in a five-on-five brawl two seconds into the nationally televised contest against the Canucks.

Hartley, at least publicly, didn’t dispute the hefty fine.

“All incidents that happen, the league will look into it,” Hartley said minutes after losing 3-2 to the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center. “They’re always in a tough spot. They make decisions for the best of the game. I will respect their decision.”

Said Colin Campbell, NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations: “We are holding Mr. Hartley responsible for the actions of Flames’ right-wing Kevin Westgarth, who took the game’s opening faceoff and attempted to instigate a premeditated fight with an unwilling opponent — the Canucks’ Kevin Bieksa.”

Flames boss Brian Burke, via statement, offered support for his employee: “I am perplexed by this fine. I stand behind Bob Hartley completely in this regard, and remain confident that he acted properly in every aspect of this game.”

Westgarth, before puck drop, heard about the fine — and the explanation.

“It’s not unexpected,” he said. “It is what it is, I guess. I kind of figured something would be happening just because of how big a deal it ended up being. I think it shows a little bit of the soul of hockey once in a while. You don’t want to have (a line brawl to) happen very often.

“But it was good for our team. It was probably good for the Canucks. I think a lot of people enjoyed it, too.”

As far as his name being invoked in Campbell’s ruling?

“I don’t think it really matters much,” said Westgarth. “They’re doing their job . . . trying to make the game the way they want it. So it’s not surprising.”

Well, at least it’s closure on the matter, right?

“It’s been closed for us for a couple days,” said Westgarth. “I think everyone else was a little more worried about it.”

Money issues finalized — Hartley’s fine, Matt Stajan’s $12.5-million contract extension — there had still been a game to contest.

Westgarth didn’t start.

Westgarth didn’t fight.

But the big galoot did score.

Jiri Hudler had opened the scoring for Calgary, but San Jose pulled ahead thanks to Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels — only 21 seconds apart.

Rapping in a rebound from a Brian McGrattan shot, Westgarth deadlocked things at 13:34 of the first period.

“It was great,” Westgarth said of his first goal with the Flames. “We ended up getting down with a couple of weird bounces against. It was nice to tie it up. I think we had a great effort as a team. You know, that’s one of the best teams in the NHL. We definitely stuck with them for most of the game, then outplayed them, I thought, in the last 20 minutes.

“I was just happy to pitch in.”

A nice way to respond to everything that’s been said about him in the past couple of days?

“I don’t know what’s been said about me,” replied Westgarth. “I’m not too worried about it either. I know that the guys in this room respect me. They know I’ll do anything for them. That’s all I really care about.”

Hartley was asked if the scoring combination — McGrattan with the helper, Westgarth with the goal — had been somewhat gratifying, given the loud backlash from Saturday’s brawl.

“Those guys, they work hard in practice,” said Hartley. “We sit every day with them to go through their game. We’re trying to improve their games. They’re great teammates. They’re very positive. It’s fun to see those guys score. Whenever I have a chance to reward them, you can be sure that I will do it.”

However, Pavelski’s second goal of the game — a power-play conversion at 14:54 of the second period — stood up as the winner.

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